As a boy-mom, a pastor and a personal stylist, I've seen it all, and have heard so many times, "Why doesn't anyone ever TELL you this stuff if it's so normal?" Well, at Java with Jen, I WILL tell you the "stuff". Let's be real… plastic people don't inspire anyone. I love doing REAL LIFE with REAL WOMEN who just want to be the best version of themselves. I may not have all the answers, but I want to lend a hand to encourage you like others have encouraged me. Encouraging. Inspiring. Authentic… with coffee in hand and real life in our faces, let's do this.

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In today’s episode we get to have a fun conversation with actress Crystal Lott, (check her out on IMDB!), who is my sister, and has been working in Hollywood for the last 15 years. The life of actors and actresses is often a mystery to the general public and it’s fun to once in a while get a sneak peek into what goes in to this adventurous, exciting lifestyle. Crystal opens up and shares about the struggles and victories of living in the acting world and encourages us with principles that can carry into our own lives as well. If YOU’RE interested in pursuing an acting career, she saves some valuable tips for the end of the episode you won’t want to miss! As you’ll hear in the show, Crystal is creative and an avid explorer of all sorts of new ways to add new skills to her acting resume, so I shared with my listeners that I would be posting some fun photos of some of the adventures she and I have had together on her journey of discovering new talents. I hope you enjoy the episode and please share with friends and on social media! Tag me if you share it for a shout-out in my stories! 😀

Her nephews (my boys) ADORE her and insisted on driving with me at midnight all the way to Houston to pick her up, sleeping on the way home, but of course dragging their tired bodies out of the car for a classic photo at Buccee’s with their Aunt. 🙂 (It was about 2 am in this photo!)

Dolby Theatre with Crystal on one of my visits. For those who don’t know, this is where America’s Got Talent does their final shows, and it’s also where the Emmy’s are held!

Formerly known as the Kodak Theatre, this is the red carpet stair case normally adorned with huge golden statues for the big awards night!

Because, History. (Billy Graham)

Johnny Depp was such a doll to let me pose with him. Clearly he was excited… or in character… or made of wax… we’ll never know.

CINESPIA is a wonderful outdoor summer experience in LA!!! They once or twice weekly sell tickets for a lawn movie at the local cemetery and THOUSANDS set up with blankets and chairs and food… if you do this, be prepared with some layers… once the sun goes down it gets down into the 60’s, I think this night was the 50’s. We watched “Alien” and of course don’t forget to take a photo at their very authentic photo booth. (I wasn’t trying to pose all cool… I was freezing cold and the lights were so bright, my face was actually my “Where are we supposed to look? Where’s the camera?- FLASH!- Oh… I’m blind now anyways…” LOL!

Crystal is kind enough to always make time for my own little adventures, and being a fashion stylist, I wanted to go see the fashion museum… it was wonderful!

A few years ago, this was her creative idea for making memories with the girls in our family… do a pinup photo shoot! When we were done we went around LA, grabbed lunch, went by the Warner Bros studios and people stopped us and took our pictures, probably thinking we were in costume for a film. 😀 It was funny, and a total blast!

And of course… MERMAIDING!!!

(This lovely blonde is my twin sister who was also joining the adventure and honing some new skills!)

And of course when you’re as silly and adventurous as Crystal… bloopers will abound!

With end of the year fun comes lots of little treats needing to be made for classroom friends and end-of-the-year parties. I have two kids in school , both with birthdays this month too, ironically enough! So, since I feel like I always have to scour Pinterest for ideas for stuff, here is the inspiration for this project, though mine is a different twist. Here

If you have an eager helper, put them to work using their counting skills to count out the gummy worms and marshmallows! 😃👏👏👍😊😘

Now, lean the sweet goodies to one side and zip the zipper, then tie with yarn in the middle of the Baggie so you will have a vague butterfly shape.

Insert carefully the pretzels until the other side is completely full and zip the Baggie completely.

TA DA!!! Butterfly treat!!! Now, finish making how many you need and prep the labels…

Now thankfully I lucked out, and had one of these scrapbook kits on hand, and it so happened to have just enough sticker labels for my goodie bags. So I labeled them, and tied them onto the baggies rather than using them as stickers. I had to come up with something witty to write on them in order to tie in butterflies, and thankfully, I felt, came up w something cute. 😃
They say “This summer “butter-fly” by so I can see you again soon!”

Once your labels are made, tie them onto the baggies, and send them to class!! I also purchased these great water bottles at the dollar tree dollar store, which have a remove able snack cup on the bottom!! The snacks were also all purchased at the dollar store, making this butterfly project cost under $5 for the entire thing. (12 classmates). I hope this helped!! Post any great ideas you had too! I will have many more years of this ahead of me.

The way you bite your nails. The way you crinkle your nose when you’re thinking about… whatever it is

you’re thinking about. The way you get excited over coffee but couldn’t care less about Disneyland. The unique things that make you “so-you” make you irreplaceable to me. These are the things I want to focus on when I think about YOU.

We all go through times where we take those we love for-granted or just treat them with less esteem than they deserve. We probably find ourselves doing that most easily with family or those closest to us. I started to wonder, and ask myself why in the world the ones who are most precious are the ones I easily treat the worst! Is it because I don’t REALLY love them? No. That’s not it at all. Is it because I’m too consumed with myself and my own life? Maybe. But not totally. Sometimes it was as though I’d be looking at my husband but not really SEEING him. Interacting with my kids on auto-pilot, but not really being AWARE of them. Hmm…

Then it clicked.

I was not relating to them as individuals, constantly aware of their personhood, I was relating to them according to what they represented to me.

For example. My husband is Stephen. But on a daily basis, he is my bill-payer, he is my bug-killer, he is the father of my children, he is the one I cook for and clean up after, he is my helper with the house hold responsibilities, he is my grass-mower, trash-taker-outer, listening ear, and fellow minister. He is all these things to me on a practical level. And so long as I’m functioning on “do-or-die” mode in life, I will likely not slow down enough to see past all the things and chores he represents to me, in order to see HIM. And that is when I treat him carelessly. See, its easy to mistreat a bug-killing-trash-taking-lawn-mowing person because they just represent a lot of separate functions. But when I stop and make myself see deeper than the jobs he fulfills to the unique creation that he is with thoughts, feelings, ambitions, hopes, insecurities, and loves, all of a sudden I become aware of the heart of this man, and even more aware of how my behavior and words have either been enhancing him, neglecting him, or wounding him.

Wow.

You see, it takes work, and intentional effort to stop and engage in people. Even to stop and engage in ourselves, or in the Lord. But if we don’t, we will move through life treating people as service-men, treating ourselves like a machine, and treating the Lord like a religious-system rather than treating all our relationships with value and honor.

So, as simple of a revelation that this was, it really helped me to see my own need for stopping the busy rhythm of my life, even if just in my own head and spinning thoughts, to take the time and engage. Engage in the Lord and His ever-present-companionship. Engage in the ones around me and take the time to notice them and the unique things that make them special to me. Engage in my own heart, see deeply inside myself and simplify.

Given this valuable revelation, I have started a new little habit, tiny, but I believe will add a richness to all of my relationships. I have started challenging myself to, when I think about someone, stop long enough and let my thoughts linger on them and what it is about them that makes them so very special to me, un-duplicated by any other human being. What is it about them that makes them “so-them“? Then, as I become better and better at identifying those things (because it can be a challenge at first!), I begin to express those things to those people when given the chance. Be it a hand written card, an email, a text or in person. Any way I do it, it will mean a lot to them, and it will simply deepen my appreciation for everyone around me, and hopefully also make me more aware of how I treat people. I want to live a life that sows honor and value into people. I think this is putting me on the right track. 🙂

I cor. 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”